Politician ordered to pay ¥1.1 million for outing author as transgender
Author Li Kotomi speaks at a news conference Thursday in Tokyo. | Jessica Speed
Oct 29, 2026
A Tokyo court ordered a local assembly member Thursday to pay ¥1.1 million ($6,972) in compensation for outing award-winning author Li Kotomi on social media, ruling that it constituted an unlawful invasion of privacy.
The Tokyo District Court found that Hiromi Muramatsu, an assembly member in the city of Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, unlawfully invaded Li’s privacy by saying on social media that her gender is different from what she was assigned at birth and posting sensitive personal information without her consent.
Presiding Judge Yohei Motomura said the information, which included her name before her transition and childhood photographs, was highly personal and that there was no reasonable justification for disclosing it.
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